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To Catch a Womp Rat
Skaath’i pushed through the teeming crowd of denizens haunting the cantina. She made her way into a dimly-lit corner and took a seat, resting the back of her helmet against the wall. From behind her visor, reptilian eyes scanned the bustling room. A few curious and fearful glances thrown her way by several of the worms that infested the cantina. As if they were important enough for her to be contracted for. So many soft things. Full of self-pity and weakness. Her reputation was spreading quickly. Her helmet’s audio receptors filtered through the dozens of conversations taking place searching for mentions of the Exchange. The word popped up in several but she focused in on the two humans and the Weequay near the door. They were clearly hired muscle of some sort. They could lead her to her quarry. She waited for them to finish their drinks and leave the cantina before following them. The tension in the room dissolving as she departed. The Trandoshan quickly ducked down several of the narrow winding alleys that connected the residential quarters. She could not see them but the Gift told her they were still close. She could hear their voices carrying over the rooftops every now and then, loud and boisterous. She emerged onto a narrow street teeming with stalls on one side before a clear line in the sand was drawn on the other side of the street that began a gridded industrial quarter of private docks and warehouses. Skaath’i peered across the avenue at the warehouse that drew her attention with the sentries and patrol droids circling it for unwanted guests. The Trandoshan surmised it was the logistical heart of Exchange operations on the planet. But she wasn’t here to dismantle the Exchange. She was here for one man. Those who stood in her way were merely collateral and extra points. The huntress closed her eyes and reached out with the Gift, her senses cast through the warehouse. The personnel were too numerous and too heavily armed for her to take on with just her wits and a vibroblade. She would return when she was in her natural element. Skaath’i intended to cast her senses deeper searching for her target in the offices inside the warehouse’s upper level. She drew inward immediately, recoiling as another presence touched her own. It felt like it was searching for her. Skaath’i remained calm careful not to draw attention toward herself. She could feel someone watching her. She could see a human woman wrapped in modest brown robes feigning interest in a scrapper’s wares. She walked as if weighed down at the hip. The Trandoshan hissed in annoyance. A Jedi. The huntress set down the avenue at a quick pace, completely aware of the Jedi following her. She weaved through the crowd of people as she reached the market square. Hundreds of stalls set up to sell imported goods and water. Skaath’i drew inward, she felt her frustration and anger boil. She projected those feelings outward among the weak-minded in the crowd. She pulled on their sadness, fear, anger, and resentment. The Jedi would soon realize she had no friends here. The Republic and Sith Empire had pulled their troops out of Tatooine when the Eternal Empire had sacked Korriban and Tython. They had left Tatooine alone to feel the weight of the Eternal Empire’s conquest of the Outer Rim. With the Sith Empire out of the way, the Exchange was free to resume its operations in full with no opposition. It quickly established its stranglehold over the system again. Skaath’i focused their emotions and honed them toward the Jedi. A blaster raised in the crowd and fired. The Jedi sensed the attack and activated her emerald blade, deflecting the blaster bolt into the sand. The crowd surged, jeering at the Jedi Knight and condemning her very presence. Skaath’i seized the distraction and moved up the hill back towards the cantina. She would wait until nightfall on her ship. A soft thing in a black flightsuit passed her on the way down. A mane of hair kissed by fire. She had the look of a warrior about her. She vanished down some alleyway behind the markets. Skaath’i paid her no mind and continued onward eager to shake her tail. She returned to her ship and waited for the twin suns to lower, setting out once more at dusk. She moved across the city quickly and reached her destination as darkness took hold. The Scorekeeper granted her strength and an unnatural speed as she sprinted towards her prey. Clawed hands slit the sentries’ throats and she flicked their blood from her claws. She retrieved the building’s access cards off their corpses and slipped inside undetected. The warehouse was completely dark save for a plasteel barrel full of flame, warming the guards as the temperatures dropped drastically in the absence of the twin suns. Skaath’i extended her hand and willed the Gift to release a blast of energy directed at the barrel. It toppled and cast the room into darkness and the fire was smothered. The last thing the guards heard was the extension of her vibroblade before she descended on them, Blaster fire sprayed at random around the room trying to target their attacker. Skaath’i stepped over their corpses and made her way to the ramp providing access to the warehouse’s upper level. Skaath’i could hear voices inside the closest office. The lights flashed on and she heard a man swear. The door flew open close to her concealed spot. One of the guards saw her out of the corner of his eye. Skaath’i seized him by the throat, her claw digging in and severing his jugular. She threw him effortlessly over the walkway to the floor below. His companion raised a blaster rifle. The Trandoshan slashed through his hand and then ended his life quickly with a thrust of her blade through his heart. Skaath’i entered the office. A soft thing, a woman, stared back at her defiantly from behind the desk, Her fear betrayed her. The huntress could smell it. The Trandoshan hissed with annoyance. This soft thing was not her target. “Where is soft thing’s Master?” she demanded. The woman did not answer for a few moments, her defiance seemed to return. “You’ll have to kill me before I tell you anything!” Skaath’i hissed in amusement and moved towards the desk, removing her helmet. “Not kill you, soft thing. No honor. Soft thing unarmed. Weak. Worth no jagannath.” The woman drew a holdout blaster from under the desk and raised it toward the Trandoshan. The huntress did not even react. “Pull trigger,” the Trandoshan urged her. The soft thing tensed and fired. The Trandoshan pivoted her body out of harm’s way and seized her wrist, wrenching the blaster from her grip and throwing it into the corner of the room. “Weak,” she echoed as she left the room. Skaath’i moved quickly following her next lead. She had to reach her quarry before news of the attack on the warehouse reached him or he would go to ground. She knew her patron would not have been satisfied by a mere lieutenant. She flared her nostrils at disgust towards the womp rats scurrying into holes in the canyon walls. She reached the edge of Mos Ila and looked out across the expanse of sand. Her visor zoomed on a distant settlement. She spotted the assault droids patrolling it. Skaath’i maintained her concealment, deciding her blade wouldn’t do much enough to bring down the heavily-armored assault droids and kept to the shadows and out of range of their scanners. She hugged the walls of the structures as she pressed towards the central building in the former moisture farm. She could hear many voices inside. A clan meeting perhaps. Skaath’i drew her blade and swung around cutting down one of the guards. The other wasted the last moments of their life to alert the rest of the Exchange. Skaath’i granted them a quick death for being honorable and not trying to beg or buy their life. The huntress leapt through the window and rolled to her feet, cutting down several armed lieutenants and found a rear door open. Skaath’i hissed with fury and heard a speeder fire up outside. The Exchange boss gave her one glance before he sped off towards Mos Ila. The assault droids opened fire with repeating blaster cannons. Hundreds of blaster bolts ripping through sand dunes, leaving trails of glass. The structure Skaath’i was standing in moments before imploded under the onslaught of blaster fire. Skaath’i jumped onto another speeder and pushed it back its limits. She soon caught up to the human and cut off his approach into Mos Ila, forcing him to veer off back towards the desert. Skaath’i slashed at him several times with her vibroblade after drawing close. He swerved out of harm’s way each time. Skaath’i swerved to avoid a spire of rock looming before them both and was forced down a winding passage. The Exchange boss screaming across the sands towards Mos Anek. Both speeders raced toward the small settlement and through the empty streets. They entered the open dunes a second time passing under several arches crossing the canyons. A homestead stood on the horizon, likely his destination. A safe house of sorts. The Trandoshan dismounted her speeder and stepped towards the homestead. Autoturrets popped out of hidden emplacements and glassed where she had been standing moments before. The huntress moved evasively towards the structure. She raised her clawed fingers toward the door. The locking mechanism responded to her will and opened. Skaath’i stepped over the threshold and entered finding her quarry pouring himself a drink. He raised the glass of Alderaanian brandy to her and swallowed its contents, “How will you do it?” he asked her, eyeing her claws nervously. The Trandoshan removed her helmet and set it on the table. “Quickly,” she hissed. The human seemed to take some measure of mercy from her words. Skaath’i extended her vibroblade and thrust it through his heart, twisting the blade before wrenching it free. She watched the life fade from his eyes before departing the homestead, stepping back out onto the moonlit sands. The Trandoshan was satisfied now that she had finally caught her quarry. He was a soft thing but quite elusive. She supposed that was worth some points. Her mood soured when she spotted the Jedi standing calmly, as if waiting for her. The first rays of sunlight appeared on the distant horizon behind the mountains. The Jedi remained at a safe distance. She lowered her cowl and smiled at the Trandoshan, “I am Jedi Knight Sheyra Davos. I have been watching you for some time.” “Jedi bad hunter. Soft thing walks loudly. Known you have watched for days,” the huntress laughed. The Jedi Knight remained silent allowing the Trandoshan to gloat, “You walk as if weighed. You conceal weapon but betrays you. What Jedi is.” The Jedi seemed impressed that the Trandoshan had been able to asses her as a Jedi by her stance and gait in Mos Ila. She remained silent for a few moments, “You have a gift. The Order can teach you how to control it and use it for good.” The Trandoshan hissed derisively, “Good. Evil. Empty words soft things throw at each other. Jedi monks. Dosh hunters.” The Jedi stepped closer passively, “Your people have a unique culture, almost warlike, it favors conflict. But there is another way...come with me and we will teach you to hone your gift and yourself.” The Trandoshan scoffed and turned away from the Jedi, clearly uninterested by her offer. “Dosh not Jedi. Dosh hunters.” The Jedi seemed resigned but then spoke, “You are coming with me whether you choose to join the Order or not. You can atone for your crimes or you can answer for them before the Council and possibly the Senate.” The Trandoshan’s fury sparked at her words, she jabbed a clawed finger towards her chest. “Dosh will never be captured. Dishonorable before Scorekeeper. Lose points. Jedi kill Dosh before dishonor.” The Jedi seemed confused. Skaath’i drew her vibroblade with a hiss intending to earn many points or to die before losing them. The Scorekeeper warned Skaath’i of danger. Imminent danger. The Trandoshan threw herself to the sand as a speeder hurtled where her head had been towards the Jedi. Two lightsabers hissing to life to lock with the Jedi’s green blade in a bright flash. The black-armored woman dueled the Jedi casting shades of colored light across the desert as they danced. Dawn making its slow entrance behind them. The Jedi Knight gave ground quickly but maintained her defense against the dark warrior’s onslaught. “Surrender, Sith...and you will be taken alive.” The human seemed uninterested in her demands, “ Hard to be taken prisoner by a corpse.” Her visor reflected the sun’s first rays into the Jedi’s eyes and she renewed her assault. Skaath’i could tell the one the Jedi had called Sith was the better warrior. The Jedi fought words. This Sith with emotion. The Sith kept switching sequences as the Jedi tried to look for repetition in her blows for an opening to strike her opponent down. It never came. Skaath’i almost missed what transpired with the speed at which the Sith struck. The Sith slapped her blade aside and drove its twin through her chest, nearly cutting her in two from the ferocity at the blow. Sheyra fell dead before she hit the ground. The Trandoshan watched as the Jedi’s lightsaber flew to the Sith. Three hilts dangling from her equipment belt. Sand had already begun to cover the body. Scavengers would come for it soon enough. The Sith stepped toward the Trandoshan and removed her helmet. It was the fire-headed woman from the market yesterday. “Knew there was more to soft thing,” she crowed. “Soft thing fight well.” The Sith dipped her head slightly at the praise. “And I have been following your trail of bodies through Tatooine closely,” the Sith spoke, “I am Darth Pasaiss, Dark Lord of the Sith.” The Trandoshan seemed unimpressed. Titles meant nothing to her. “Sith?” she hissed in query. Pasaiss smiled, “I can tell you all you wish to know about the Sith. Should you join us.” Skaath’i sensed the power within the woman and lowered her blade. Pasaiss continued, “The Sith are warriors, sorcerers...some even are hunters. The Sith believe in freeing your emotions to give you strength. That the strong must rule over those weaker to preserve order. I watched what you did at the markets. You played those weaklings like puppets on strings. They bent to your will.” Skaath’i seemed perturbed by her analysis. Her gift had been growing stronger and more unpredictable. “You have been both a hunter and a warrior all your life. But there is still much you could learn. I do not ask you to hide in a temple and prattle about peace in a galaxy ruled by unchecked chaos. I only ask you to kneel before me and pledge yourself as my apprentice. Do this...and I will forge you into the greatest hunter the galaxy and your people have ever seen.” The Trandoshan narrowed her eyes, “Dosh do not kneel.” Pasaiss returned her gaze, “Such pride. It may very well be your downfall some day.” The Trandoshan flared her nostrils, “I am no slave.” Pasaiss flashed her a feral smile, “Student,” she corrected the huntress, “Perhaps it is time for your first lesson.” The Trandoshan hissed and charged slashing repeatedly at the Sith. Pasaiss did not reach for her lightsabers. She simply pivoted, weaved, and ducked under every blow as if perceiving them before they fell. She moved faster than the human eye could follow as she moved, wearing down the Trandoshan with the aid of the dark side of the Force. Skaath’i came too close for comfort with one pass and she raised a hand. A flash of lightning leaving the Dosh sprawled on the sand, smoke rising from her robes. She could sense the Trandoshan’s anger, shame, and hatred. “I can feel your hatred. It makes you strong. Utilize it. Strike me down,” she commanded. The Trandoshan leapt to her feet and slashed again and again at the red-headed human. Pasaiss narrowly evaded each blow. A subtle nudge in the Force stopping a blade from reaching her chest before she stepped aside and allowed the huntress to stumble past her. Skaath’i hissed irritably. Pasaiss clasped her hands behind her back, appraising her prospective student. “Kneel…” The Trandoshan started forward and the Pasaiss sensed the dark side swelling inside the huntress. A kinetic blast of energy slammed harmlessly against a conjured Force barrier. Pasaiss gathered and redirected the energy and hit the Dosh like a battering ram. She walked purposefully across the sand to her still form. “Kneel,” she commanded. Skaath’i refused to rise and stared defiantly at her. “Never,” she spat. Pasaiss turned and sensed the lunge at her exposed back. She pivoted to the side and allowed the Trandoshan to fall into the sand. Pasaiss seized her with the Force. Her weapon fell from nerveless fingers, “Enough.” A voice in her mind compelled her to obey the Sith. How easy it would be to submit to kneel before the human. To surrender to destiny. Skaath’i resisted and awkwardly sank into a crouch refusing to let her knee touch the ground. Pasaiss increased the pressure on her. The weight of the world coming down on her shoulders. Pasaiss pressed harder and proved too strong for the Trandoshan’s will. “Do you wish to know what secrets I have to teach you? The mysteries of the Force I have unlocked? My prowess and knowledge as a warrior? Do I truly have nothing to offer you?” she demanded of the huntress. The Trandoshan hung her head in shame, “I am not slave.” Pasaiss snapped at her with irritation, “I do not need a slave. I require an apprentice.” The word seemed to confuse the Dosh. “I am your mentor now.” Skaath’i murmured, “But you took me prisoner...before the eyes of the Scorekeeper.” The Trandoshan seemed torn to the core over her defeat. “I did not.” Pasaiss released her and allowed her to rise, “You are no prisoner. You still have your points, maybe just not your pride. Come with me and I will teach you how to bend your gift to your will.” The Trandoshan appraised her for a moment before she felt a nudge inside her. A sign perhaps from the Scorekeeper to go with this woman. The Trandoshan nodded, spotting a sleek black shuttle on a nearby outcropping in the canyon across from them. Pasiass handed her a small device, the Dosh recognized it as a beacon of sorts. “Where are we going?” she asked the Sith. Pasaiss glanced past the shuttle toward the rising suns, “Home.”